Alaska – People of Saltchukhttps://peopleofsaltchuk.com
The stories behind the Saltchuk family of companies
Fri, 17 May 2019 17:00:50 +0000 en-US
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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.1An energetic homecominghttps://peopleofsaltchuk.com/an-energetic-homecoming/
Mon, 29 Apr 2019 20:38:51 +0000https://peopleofsaltchuk.com/?p=2592Ryan Macnamara, Director of Pricing, NorthStar Energy. Four years after embarking on an experiential quest, Ryan Macnamara is armed with the knowledge and know-how to help propel NorthStar into its (sustainable) future. By Hilary Reeves Ryan Macnamara was still studying marketing at Western Washington University in Bellingham when he decided to pursue an internship to ...

Four years after embarking on an experiential quest,
Ryan Macnamara is armed with the knowledge and know-how to help propel
NorthStar into its (sustainable) future.

By Hilary Reeves

Ryan Macnamara was still studying marketing at Western
Washington University in Bellingham when he decided to pursue an internship to
help launch his career after graduation.

“I had a deep respect for Mike Garvey, whom I’d known from
childhood, and I was interested in coming to join the Saltchuk family,” he
said. “I reached out to him, and he put me in touch with a number of
companies.”

It was Delta Western, Macnamara said, that most excited him –
and the feeling was mutual. He began his decade-long stint with the company in
Seattle a week after he graduated in 2004. By 2014, Macnamara was happily
managing a bevy of accounts.

“I put my marketing degree to
use learning the Alaska business, but after 10 years spent learning contract
creation and management, the different types of accounts, and how to manage the
relationships, I recognized that my primary gap as a professional was related
to my limited operational experience,” he said.

In the early years, the solution seemed obvious: when the
time was right, Macnamara and his wife would move to one of the company’s
terminals in Alaska so he could begin a more “hands-on” phase of his career. But once the eldest of his two sons reached Kindergarten, he knew a move to
Alaska wasn’t in the cards anymore.

“There was a time period where it would have worked, but by
the time I really needed to make a change, we couldn’t do Alaska anymore,” he
explained.

Enter Covich Williams, a local, family-owned Chevron
marketer.

“I was approached by Covich Williams and I was immediately struck by how similar their business was to one of Delta Western’s Alaska terminals,” said Macnamara. “The company’s general manager of 30 years was leaving, and they needed a new GM to step in and manage inside and outside sales, the warehouse, drivers – everything I was looking for in terms of experience and exposure.”

Delta Western’s management was encouraging and left the door
open – so Macnamara took the job.

“I learned a heck of a lot. I’m happy that I did it,” he
said.

Bridging the gap with a new team

Four years later, Macnamara is back in the Saltchuk fold –
this time at NorthStar, Delta Western’s parent company, working as a Director of Pricing under VP of Supply and
Logistics Don Stone.

“This year, the time was finally right,” he said. “Under new NorthStar leadership, Delta Western was making big changes. I’d heard that a shared service model was being rolled out whereby critical business functions were being done at the parent company level in order to strengthen the role of site managers at the terminal locations, allowing them to focus on their strengths, take greater ownership over the performance of their local businesses, and know that they have a supportive team behind them at NorthStar.”

Macnamara has been in the office for just a month but said he already feels a synergy between his past experience, both at Delta Western and at Covich Williams, and his new role.

“With my new understanding of operations from Covich Williams I saw a perfect opportunity to join Don (Stone),” he said. “Don needed someone experienced who could take the lead developing pricing strategies for each Delta Western terminal. I would be able to have an immediate, measurable impact on the business overall, and for each one of the sites.”

Macnamara, who knew Stone from
his years at Delta Western, said he’s always admired Stone’s ability to see
opportunities in a complex network of interconnected, moving parts.

“He could make things come to life that other people weren’t able to even see, and you wanted to be a part of that,” he said. “Don was building up a new group dedicated to finding supply efficiencies on behalf of existing markets while probing growth opportunities in entirely new places. This team would allow me to make an impact as a connector between that global supply strategy and the local markets that I knew well. I’m excited to be a part of bridging the gap between those two worlds.”

‘A bit surreal’

One thing that’s
been brought to the forefront in the years since Macnamara left is that
NorthStar is an energy company chock-full of energy solutions.

“I now have the opportunity to explore energy alternatives that are a focus of this new NorthStar-Delta Western regime more than ever,” he said. “The change that thrills me the most is bridging the gap between the energy of today and the energy solutions of tomorrow. I’m thrilled to be supporting site managers so directly as a connector between the parent company shared service model and the boots-on-the-ground operations; I truly care about our sites.”

One thing that
hasn’t changed, Macnamara said, is that everyone wears a lot of hats.

“It’s been a big whirlwind – a bit surreal. There’s a completely different team in place. I’m still learning about the team and the different roles and how things have changed. There’s a lot to tackle. Luckily, we have someone at the helm in Bert (Valdman) who’s a real visionary. I’m just loving being back.”

]]>NorthStar fuel pro reflects on early days in Dutch Harbor, Alaskahttps://peopleofsaltchuk.com/northstar-fuel-pro-reflects-on-early-days-in-dutch-harbor-alaska/
Fri, 05 Apr 2019 18:45:54 +0000https://peopleofsaltchuk.com/?p=2579NorthStar Senior Inventory Specialist Robert Sevilla in Seattle. Senior Inventory Specialist Robert Sevilla began his career in the field. By Hilary Reeves The winter of 2011 was a bad one for Alaskans: the snowiest winter on record and one of the coldest. That December, the crew of Delta Western Dutch Harbor heard that the coastal ...

Senior Inventory Specialist Robert Sevilla began his career in the field.

By Hilary Reeves

The winter of 2011 was a bad one for
Alaskans: the snowiest winter on record and one of the coldest. That December, the
crew of Delta Western Dutch Harbor heard that the coastal community of Nome was
completely iced in and running out of fuel after a barge scheduled to arrive in
the fall couldn’t make its delivery.

“We had to charter an ice class marine tanker to make the delivery from Dutch Harbor to Nome” over 300 miles of thick sea ice, said NorthStar’s Robert Sevilla. “I believe that if you put in the hard work and strive to better yourself every day that there is nothing you can’t achieve.”

Post-winter move

Sevilla started with Delta Western as
a Fuel Dock attendant and driver in Dutch Harbor some 15 years ago. He
transitioned to the role of Warehouse Administrator, maintaining the company’s
packaged product inventory, then to the role of Office Administrator. By the
spring of 2012, he was ready for a change.

“A position opened up in our
Seattle corporate office for an Inventory Clerk, so I applied for the position
and, luckily, I got it,” he said.

From there, Sevilla moved to his
current position as Senior Inventory Specialist, a role that now sits
in the NorthStar Energy supply group.

“I started in the field, so I enjoy seeing how everything
unfolds, from purchasing our products to our site receiving them, selling to
the customer to invoicing them. I get to see the paper trail from cradle to
grave, sort of, and at the end of it all when the inventory is in balance, I
know I did my job.”

Childhood challenges

The youngest of five children, Sevilla spent his childhood
moving between the United States and the Philippines. His first job was
encoding Census data for his brother’s NGO there.

“There was a project to collect data from the people living in the slums in Manila so the government would try to relocate them to better housings. It was something I understood because I grew up in a single-parent household with my mom working multiple jobs in the U.S. to make ends meet,” he explained. “She had to make a tough decision to send us home to the Philippines to stay with relatives. Living away from my parents was hard, but it built a strong foundation for my relationship with my siblings. My childhood had challenges, but I was still grateful because I knew that there are others who had less than me.”

“Living away from my parents was hard, but it built a strong foundation for my relationship with my siblings. My childhood had challenges, but I was still grateful because I knew that there are others who had less than me.”

Sevilla has been married for 16 years to his “wonderful wife,”
and “has been blessed with two amazing daughters.” He said he’s grateful to
have found his way to helping people in a slightly different capacity.

“I’m grateful for all the opportunities that the company has
given me,” he said. “We have amazing people in place, and I believe we’re
poised to do great things in our field, not only expanding the areas we
service, but also venturing into alternative energy solutions. I see us
continuing to be the best at what we do: providing safe, quality products and
services for the people and communities that we serve.”

]]>TOTE President Jeff Dixon sails through first two monthshttps://peopleofsaltchuk.com/tote-president-jeff-dixon-sails-through-first-two-months/
Wed, 13 Mar 2019 22:05:07 +0000https://peopleofsaltchuk.com/?p=2561Dixon: ‘It’s been supremely rewarding to me already.’ By Hilary Reeves Captain Jeff Dixon spent 27 years on active duty in the United States Coast Guard before joining TOTE Services almost two years ago. He assumed the role of President following the retirement of Rear Admiral Phil Greene, Jr. in January. “It’s been a fast ...

TOTE President Jeff Dixon aboard the North Star in Tacoma, Washington.

Dixon: ‘It’s been supremely rewarding to me already.’

By Hilary Reeves

Captain Jeff Dixon spent 27 years on active duty in the United States Coast Guard before joining TOTE Services almost two years ago. He assumed the role of President following the retirement of Rear Admiral Phil Greene, Jr. in January.

“It’s been a fast ride so far,” he said.

Dixon grew up an only child on Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida. His father was a Vietnam veteran near the end of his career. His mother, he said, passed away from cancer when he was 10.

“My first sort of introduction to the Coast Guard was right around that time – a fourth-grade field trip to a Coast Guard station where I got a good look at a Cutter. Looking back, it was only a 210-foot Cutter, but at the time it seemed huge and really caught my interest,” he laughed. “My dad was military, so I was accustomed to the idea of one day being in the military. But the ships were pretty intriguing.”

Dixon enrolled in the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut, majoring in Management and Economics. Most of his early career was spent afloat.

“Wherever I went, I had so much fun,” he said. “I worked on two Coast Guard patrol boats in South Florida during the early years, chasing drug runners and smugglers. We did a lot of interdictions.”

He met his wife in Miami over Spring Break 1999.

“We actually met the spring before I moved to D.C. to go to Coast Guard headquarters for my staff assignment,” he laughed. “I found out she lived in Baltimore for nursing school.”

The couple married in 2001 after Dixon was assigned to the Coast Guard’s Office of International Affairs.

Captain Dixon and his daughter in Alaska.

Alaska bound

Dixon counts his time in Washington, D.C. among the most fascinatingly spent of his career.

“The Coast Guard sends teams all over the world to train countries in keeping a Coast Guard, and as diplomatic envoys where the Department of Defense is unwelcome,” he explained. “I was sent by the Department of State as part of its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Program to Georgia – the country –and to Azerbaijan. I was also part of a U.S. delegation to the European Union.”

As Dixon was the only person among a group of senior American diplomats in uniform, the EU dignitaries congratulated him with a handshake.

“They assumed I was in charge,” he laughed. “The experience was great because it really taught me the value of how our Coast Guard is viewed.”

According to Dixon, many small countries employ Coast Guards rather than Navies.

“A Navy is really expensive,” he explained. “A Coast Guard provides search and rescue, law enforcement, fishery enforcement – things that have economic value. The Department of Defense can’t go into a lot of countries around the world, but we can send a Coast Guard Cutter in. We’re non-threatening. We coordinate and act as a team on a national stage.”

After a U.S. spy plane collided with a Chinese jet off Hainan Island, “the first that went in were Coasties.”

Dixon earned his MPA from George Washington University and was involved in the Coast Guard’s fleet recapitalization program. His wife and daughter moved with him from D.C. to Kodiak, Alaska, and he went back to sea.

“That was my wife’s first military move. While we were out there we found out she was pregnant again. She’s a runner, and we’d always run around the base there together. One day I beat her, and she said, ‘that’s not right,’” he laughed. “She’s usually faster than me. We went to the doctor there, and at the 15-week sonogram appointment found out it was twins.”

Dixon looks back on that tour as “amazing.”

“It was incredible to find out about my boys, and to get these 80-day deployments to the Bering Sea, but at the end of the day, I couldn’t bear seeing my wife on the pier with my two-year-old daughter in her pink coat, the double stroller with the boys, and our Labrador and know I was leaving them for almost three months.”

Captain Dixon and family in North Carolina in 2007.

Shoreside deployments

Cognizant of the needs of his growing family, Dixon decided to pursue Sector assignments – he would still be deployed, but not at sea for months on end. His first post was Moorhead City, North Carolina, then back to D.C.

“In D.C. I was Chief of Operations for all the Coast Guard’s specialized forces: they ranged from high-end tactical to pollution response, and even law enforcement detachments – we’d send them all over the world.”

Dixon made Captain and moved to Sector New York to begin as the Deputy Sector Commander in 2013. Two years later, he moved the family to Jacksonville and took over as Captain of the Port.

“That’s really the first time I encountered a Saltchuk company,” he said. “The Admiral asked me to handle all the next-of-kin coordination between the Coast Guard, TOTE, and the families after the sinking of the El Faro. I was so impressed with the integrity, the transparency, the compassion TOTE showed the families.”

In 2017, Dixon decided to retire as a Section Commander in Jacksonville.

“I just kept thinking about the El Faro, and decided it was time to try something new,” he said. “I called (former President) Phil Greene for some advice on networking; it turned out one of their long-time vice presidents was retiring and they ended up offering me the position.”

Dixon describes being “taken” with TOTE from the beginning.

“The alignment of TOTE’s core values was so easy for me,” he said. “TOTE is very similar to the Coast Guard in terms of culture. I work with such amazing people. I just love coming to work.”

TOTE support

Dixon took over as president on Jan. 4, 2019 and is one of several TOTE leaders who’ve assumed an executive leadership position within the TOTE family of companies during the past year. Driven by a lifelong commitment to safety, service, and integrity, he was well positioned to take on the responsibilities of a company that manages nearly 30 vessels and close to four million man-hours.

His first goal: ride all the TOTE ships.

“I’ve ridden the Midnight Sun, the Isla Bella, and most recently the North Star from Anchorage to Tacoma,” he said. “I’m identifying areas where we can better support them.”

The recent completion of the annual ABS audit, updating the company’s Safety Management System, and further polishing of a Safety, Quality, and Environmental Affairs policy statement have made time fly. Perhaps the most important deliverable on the horizon surrounds the fleet conversion to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

“There’s a lot of mystery that surrounds the concept of LNG as a fuel,” he said. “Once you get past the requirements for temperature, it’s incredibly efficient. The crews I’ve interacted with just rave about it.”

“Everyone else gets to learn from your mistakes,” he said. “But we’ve had tremendous success. TOTE and Saltchuk have a lot to be proud of.”

One challenge on the horizon – the Jones Act, also known as the Merchant Marine Act, a federal law that regulates maritime commerce in the United States.

“It’s critical for us to continue to understand the importance of the Jones Act to TOTE and Saltchuk – and everyone who’s part of the Saltchuk family of companies,” he said.

Among other things, the Jones Act requires goods ferried between U.S. ports to be carried on ships built, owned and operated by U.S. citizens. Critics cite additional expense and complications surrounding disaster relief.

“The reality is that the Jones Act is a critical element of national economic security. Those facts, and the real need for a robust U.S. maritime industry, need to be highlighted at every opportunity,” he concluded.

Dixon also expressed excitement at the competition for vessel construction and management of the new Maritime Administration school ships.

“We’d love to be a part of benefitting decades of maritime trainees to come,” he said. “In terms of overall goals, we want to improve the product we deliver to our customers and grow strategically in the commercial and government market space.”

Moving forward

Dixon is the first to admit the similarities between his Coast Guard career and his new role with TOTE Services – but said he isn’t one to dwell.

“I’m not one who spends much time thinking about where I’ve been – I would summarize my career so far by saying that I’m proud of my 27 years of Coast Guard ‘service to others,’” he said. “In the president role, you really work for a lot of people. You work for the employees and you’re making decisions for the long-term health of the company. For me, it’s about taking pride in that service every day.”

Dixon said he knew his new role would be less about the wining and dining, and more about getting alongside his employees.

“It’s been supremely rewarding to me already,” he concluded. “This is the best place I could’ve ended up. I feel very fortunate.”

]]>Former TOTE Alaska supervisor learning the ropes at Tropicalhttps://peopleofsaltchuk.com/former-tote-alaska-supervisor-learning-the-ropes-at-tropical/
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 17:40:41 +0000https://peopleofsaltchuk.com/?p=2553Ashley Slater moved from Anchorage to Palm Beach for a ‘change of scenery.’ By Hilary Reeves Ashley Slater began her career at TOTE Maritime Alaska in Anchorage. After four years, she decided she needed a “change of scenery.” “(In Alaska), I saw the value and importance of working for a company with outstanding business ethics ...

Ashley Slater joined Tropical Shipping six months ago after four years with TOTE Maritime in Alaska.

Ashley Slater moved from Anchorage to Palm Beach for a ‘change of scenery.’

By Hilary Reeves

Ashley Slater began her career at TOTE Maritime Alaska in Anchorage. After four years, she decided she needed a “change of scenery.”

“(In Alaska), I saw the value and importance of working for a company with outstanding business ethics and noticeable integrity, and I decided I wanted to stay with a Saltchuk company,” she said.

She moved to South Florida, joining Tropical Shipping as an Intermodal Pricing Analyst.

“I’ve been with the company for six months,” she continued. “Because of the industry knowledge I learned during my time at (TOTE), my transition was relatively smooth, but it is interesting and sometimes challenging to go from working for a company with 120 employees to a company with thousands.”

Slater grew up in Durham, North Carolina and attended Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, majoring in history. She graduated college in hopes of working for a museum and moved to Alaska where she successfully landed a temporary museum job.

“Due to the shortage of museum jobs in Alaska, I decided to give something else a try,” she said. A friend directed her toward a position at TOTE.

“I was hired as a General Staff Assistant,” she said. “I was able to learn how to do the daily functions of almost all the Anchorage departments and after 10 months was promoted to Documentation and Rating Supervisor.”

After a few reorganizations, she became a Customer Service Supervisor responsible for areas including customer service, documentation, freight claims, local and line-haul scheduling, equipment control, vendor purchase orders, and vendor invoicing. Around the time Slater was first promoted, she was tasked with leading a project to replace the company’s transportation operating system in Anchorage, an experience she looks back on proudly.

Ashley Slater, Intermodal Pricing Analyst, Tropical Shipping.

“It was the first time I’d ever done project management, and was successful in identifying a system that would fit our needs ­– which happened to be the system we were already utilizing for booking, thus saving money – building and documenting even the smallest processes and procedures for each end user involved, conducting end-user training, and successfully completing ‘go live’ with the project team while still focusing on my daily responsibilities as a department supervisor,” she said. “I’d like to thank the leadership team at (TOTE) Anchorage for all that they invested in helping to make me a better team member, leader, and person all around. The lessons I learned there have been invaluable to me in both my professional and personal life.”

As Slater starts in at Tropical on a project to develop training materials for the Intermodal, Dispatch, and National Pickup departments to aid in onboarding and cross-training within the department, she said she has few regrets about the course of her life thus far.

“My husband and I love it here in Florida, and I plan to keep developing my career at Tropical wherever I’m needed.”

If she were to have taken a different path, she points to interior design.

“I never saw myself working in the transportation industry. I didn’t think it would be something I would make into a career, but I quickly learned that I really enjoy logistics. It’s challenging and dynamic which are two characteristics that are very important to me in a job.”

“I would definitely be an interior designer,” she laughed. “Interior design is a passionate hobby of mine. I enjoy helping friends and family members make their homes beautiful and special. I never saw myself working in the transportation industry. I didn’t think it would be something I would make into a career, but I quickly learned that I really enjoy logistics. It’s challenging and dynamic which are two characteristics that are very important to me in a job.”

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Sat, 09 Feb 2019 18:35:05 +0000https://peopleofsaltchuk.com/?p=2541Delta Western’s Dennis Massingham: ‘I’m a lifelong learner.’ By Hilary Reeves Dennis Massingham’s work history is a menagerie of life experiences – but perhaps he saved the best for last: “I get to work with one of my former students from when I was a teacher at the University of Alaska in Anchorage (UAA),” he ...

Delta Western’s Dennis Massingham: ‘I’m a lifelong learner.’

By Hilary Reeves

Dennis Massingham’s work history is a menagerie of life experiences – but perhaps he saved the best for last:

“I get to work with one of my former students from when I was a teacher at the University of Alaska in Anchorage (UAA),” he said. “Ben Hansen works for Carlile Transportation; we’ve been a team for the past two years. He travels with me to our fuel terminals to perform cargo tank inspections and truck maintenance. I’ve been able to mentor him, and he became a registered cargo tank inspector on Dec. 28, 2018. I’m very proud of him. How cool is that?”

Massingham’s current title of rolling Stock Supervisor for Delta Western’s Alaska operations is a comprehensive one. He coordinates and performs the maintenance and repair of the company’s trucking fleet and support equipment in and around terminals across the state.

“The most important thing I do is take care of the cargo tanks that haul our fuel products. I, too, am a registered cargo tank inspector. My name goes on all our cargo tanks; I make sure they are safe to use and are compliant with Alaska and Federal Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations and the Environmental Protection Agency. I have a special credential from the Feds that allows me to perform mobile cargo tank inspections at remote terminals not connected to the road system. It’s a huge responsibility with much accountability.”

Back to school

Massingham grew up in rural Thurston County, Washington, near the state’s capital city of Olympia on a “small family hobby farm.” His parents owned Massingham Trucking, a company that specialized in hauling forest timber.

“Of course,” he said, “that influenced the direction I took with my education and career.”

His “first real W2-type job” was at the Evergreen Sportsman’s Club.

“It’s a skeet and trap range,” he said. “When I turned 12 years old, I filed for a permit with the State of Washington Department of Labor and Industries. I set the target machine that would fly the clay pigeons. It paid $2.75 per hour. In 2019, can you even imagine a 12-year-old working downrange at a shooting range? I miss the ’80s,” he laughed.

Massingham went on to attend what he considers a comprehensive high school vocational auto shop program at Tumwater High School, which sparked his interest in further academic achievement. He went on to earn an associate degree in Diesel Power Technology from Centralia College,

At the encouragement of an instructor, he transferred to the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and finished a Bachelor of Science in Diesel Power Technology.

“I’m a lifelong learner,” he said. “After working in the heavy equipment and transportation equipment industry for 10 years, I went back to school.”

This time, he said, he was the professor.

“I taught diesel technology at Lewis-Clark State College for five years. At the same time, I attended graduate school at the University of Idaho and earned a Master of Education in Professional-Technical education.”

From professor to fuel tank inspector

After graduating with his master’s degree, Massingham held positions at a large Caterpillar dealership in Idaho: Western States Equipment Co.
“I was a corporate trainer, training manager, HR generalist, recruiter, and probably a couple other titles I don’t remember,” he laughed. “My career is all a blur from there. As I mentioned, I was a professor at the University of Alaska before going to work at Delta Western.”

Massingham’s initial impression of Delta Western was limited to Anchorage, but he said his excitement built at the prospect of traveling to all the terminals.

“I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in many significant projects,” he said. “One project that stands out is a 350,000-gallon fuel transfer to a pair of Japanese warships that sailed to the Port of Anchorage for a fill-up. We used an engine-powered skid pump to move the fuel. The transfer took about 18 hours, and the electrical system on the engine was being temperamental with the salt spray and heavy rains. It took constant babysitting to keep running, but we completed the transfer safely, on time and under budget.”

“My career has been constantly changing, but the one thing that stays the same is I’ve always worked in the heavy equipment and transportation industry. Every job has been related to maintenance or technical education.”

Reflection

While Massingham isn’t a big proponent of changing his past, his take gives pause: “I’m reflective, but I don’t dwell on the past except to learn from it.”

The aspects of his life of which he is most proud are all related to his family: 30 years of marriage to his wife, Tammy, the graduation of his son, an electrical engineer, from UAA, and the near-graduation of his daughter, a soon-to-be-nurse, from the same alma matar.

“I like to shore fish Hawaii and chill on the beach with my wife. Doesn’t Hawaii Petroleum need some cargo tank work done? Something in Kona probably needs maintenance,” he joked.

In all seriousness, Massingham said he’s excited to watch Delta Western and the other Northstar Energy companies grow.

“I see us moving into new communities – perhaps maybe we’ll see the gas station business grow, or maybe we’ll get into other energy products and new markets. Eventually, I’ll go back to school again and earn a doctorate in Education. When I get too old to crawl into cargo tanks, I’ll go back into academics or teaching. I enjoy helping people learn career-related skills and helping them grow their careers. I’m a huge supporter of career and technical education.”

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Tue, 05 Feb 2019 17:16:14 +0000https://peopleofsaltchuk.com/?p=2537Seventeen years after joining the company, Ed Rowe said growth is inevitable – but some things remain the same. By Hilary Reeves Ed Rowe joined Northern Air Cargo (NAC) in September of 2001 as a Warehouse Agent. He grew up a middle child of three in Michigan City, Indiana, enlisting in the U.S. Army in May ...

Seventeen years after joining the company, Ed Rowe said growth is inevitable – but some things remain the same.

By Hilary Reeves

Ed Rowe joined Northern Air Cargo (NAC) in September of 2001 as a Warehouse Agent.

He grew up a middle child of three in Michigan City, Indiana, enlisting in the U.S. Army in May of 1991.

“Three days after my high school graduation, I was on my way to start my career in the Telecommunications field as a Radio Transmissions Operator,” he said. “My first duty station was Bad Kreuznach, Germany. After Germany, I was stationed at Ft. Richardson, Alaska and finished out the rest of my enlistment.”

While stationed at Ft. Richardson, Rowe met and later married his wife Laticia Rowe, a NAC Claims Agent, on Jan. 31, 1998. The couple left Alaska in 1999 only to return in 2001 after living in Hinesville, Georgia for more than two years.

Three years after joining NAC, in 2004, Rowe was one of the first few original ramp employees who began the Conoco Phillips Shared Services Contract. He left Shared Services in 2006 to return to NAC to help start the contract freight handling for numerous airlines – United, Continental, Hawaiian, Air Canada, American, Frontier, and JAL – but returned to NAMS when the contract expired in 2008. He’s been a Ramp Lead for more than a decade.

“I enjoy working with a great group of people,” he said. “My greatest challenge has been remaining flexible with constant changes in the operation and making sure everyone remains safe. My day starts at 4:30 in the morning. I assign the jobs for the day and make sure all the equipment is properly functioning. We prepare the ramp to receive the aircraft for two morning departures and one turn. We download, clean, cater, and upload the aircraft to ensure the flights depart on time.”

When Rowe started with NAC, it was a family-run business with some 200 employees.

“Since that time, it’s really grown and there have been so many changes. To see how much it’s grown – it’s something I couldn’t imagine when I started more than 17 years ago.”

But one thing hasn’t changed: employees are family.

“One of my favorite stories is how NAC showed the true meaning of family just four months after I started there in 2001,” he explained. “I received a call from home telling me that my Dad has passed and that I needed to come home immediately. Trying to get last-minute tickets was expensive, and NAC helped me get a plane ticket to go home to be with my family. The company also sent flowers for the funeral. It really showed me that I wasn’t alone and what a caring company I worked for.”

Rowe and his wife have three children, ages 24, 19, and 15. He said he’s proud of his family and is planning to relocate “somewhere in the south” in the future.

“Anytime I get a chance to spend time with my family is fun,” he said. “Collecting model cars and car detailing are my hobbies. I’d like to start a car detailing business after relocating. When I started with NAC, I never thought that I’d be here this long. I had no experience in the transportation industry, but time has really flown and I’ve learned a lot. It’s truly been an experience.

]]>Delta Western Payroll Specialist works to connect communitieshttps://peopleofsaltchuk.com/delta-western-payroll-specialist-works-to-connect-communities/
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 04:00:13 +0000https://peopleofsaltchuk.com/?p=2507Michaela Naidoo on family, photography and bringing people together. By Hilary Reeves When Michaela Naidoo is out on the streets of Seattle and sees people taking pictures of each other in front of city landmarks and scenic vistas, she stops. “I say, ‘Let me take the picture – you go get in it,’” she explained. ...

Michaela Naidoo on family, photography and bringing people together.

By Hilary Reeves

When Michaela Naidoo is out on the streets of Seattle and sees people taking pictures of each other in front of city landmarks and scenic vistas, she stops.

“I say, ‘Let me take the picture – you go get in it,’” she explained. “I absolutely love being able to do that for people. There’s a photographer that I follow whose mantra is ‘exist in photos.’ Everyone should exist in their photos. No one should be left out.”

Naidoo, born in Seattle and raised in the city’s Magnolia neighborhood, is a Payroll Specialist for Delta Western, a company that provides fuel to Alaska. Before her official hire, she spent her summers as a sort of intern.

“My mom worked for Delta Western, and I would go in with her during the summers to file and make copies and whatever else they could give a kid to do,” she said. “After I graduated from high school in 2002, I was managing a restaurant – Ivar’s Seafood,” she said. “My mom was the IT Director at Delta Western and she told me the company was hiring an Administrative Assistant.”

Naidoo applied, and was hired.

“I’d never officially worked in an office environment before,” she said, “but by that point, I’d been there almost every summer working and it felt very natural. I already knew everyone. About a year into my time here, I was able to start working with a lot of different departments through various projects. I’ve been here for 13 years and I still enjoy learning about the different facets of the company.”

Bridging the geographical gap

Naidoo’s strong interest in business led her to pursue an associate’s degree while working full time at her job at Delta Western. She hopes to continue her education in the coming year and entrench more firmly into the world of Human Resources.

Naidoo’s work often takes her to Anchorage, where she makes time to capture the surrounding dramatic landscape. Photo: Michaela Naidoo.

“I’ve always had a really strong interest in people and entrepreneurial things,” she said. “When I came out of high school, I got a lot of support from my mom. She encouraged me to go to school. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, so I started working to figure it out.”

Last July, Naidoo earned the accreditation of Certified Payroll Professional. She currently splits her time between the company’s Seattle and Anchorage offices to provide support and help bridge the geographical gap.

“Some days are spent doing the basic things you would expect: paperwork, filing, etc.,” she said. “But a lot of what I do now is helping employees. There are a lot of moving parts and every day is different. Even though I’m officially in HR, I still try to connect our corporate community – employees, managers, families and the public – and get information out. For example, I started the years of service and recognition awards for the employees this year.”

Naidoo also coordinates the company’s scholarship program, awarding funds to high school graduates in rural communities where Delta Western operates.

“The scholarship program has been one of the most rewarding projects,” she said. “Being able to help students advance in their education and see them grow has been a privilege. I think the most challenging part of my job is learning the best way to connect and help people, particularly when geography separates us. But we’re learning to utilize new technology, and becoming more familiar with the different regions of Alaska through in-person visits have made a difference.”

A local meet-up of Instagram users – called an “Instameet” – regularly connects between 20 and 100 Seattle photographers. Photo: Michaela Naidoo.

Nice to ‘Instameet’ you

Naidoo’s interest in photography stems from a childhood where documenting life’s accomplishments was the norm.

“I got my first film camera from my aunt when I was eight and I took pictures of everything all the time,” she laughed. “I loved capturing things on film. I love capturing memories.”

An avid photographer, when the social media application Instagram launched in 2012, Naidoo was quick to sign up. The app allows users to post individual pictures, add effects, and post them for followers to comment on.

“When Instagram came out, the purpose behind it was to get people all over the world to share their love of photography,” she said. “There were also local meet-ups of app users called ‘Instameets.’”

Naidoo attended her first Seattle Instameet in 2012.

“I literally didn’t talk to anyone,” she said. “I came back though, and I ended up meeting the people who were running it. I started going to them regularly, and eventually, they asked me to volunteer.”

Naidoo adopted the role of Community Coordinator, encouraging Seattle’s Instagrammers to come out from behind their screens, meet fellow photographers and create together.

“Our hashtag is #igers_seattle,” she said. “The part I love most is encouraging people to come to our meetups, witnessing the connections they make, and then seeing them via the hashtag out with new friends taking pictures in the city.”

The hashtag has garnered more than 550,000 photos from different areas of the Puget Sound community: photographers, bloggers, restaurants, and local neighborhoods and establishments.

“Our Instameets have ranged from more than 100 people down to 20 people,” she said. “But each one is unique and brings new people together, creates new memories and connections.”

Taking ownership

“Probably what I’m most proud of right now is seeing the Instagrammers community grow, seeing the positive impact on the Seattle creative community, and also continuing to grow and gain a better understanding of our company,” she said. “There was a time when I didn’t really take a lot of ownership of working for Delta Western. Especially in Seattle – you don’t tell people you work for an oil company. But petroleum isn’t such a scary word in Alaska. We’re a company that provides a vital resource to people who wouldn’t otherwise have it and I am proud to be a part of that, and I’m proud of the positive impact I’m able to contribute to our growth and goals.”

]]>Carlile Shop Helper made small changes, saw big resultshttps://peopleofsaltchuk.com/carlile-shop-helper-made-small-changes-saw-big-results/
Fri, 14 Dec 2018 17:07:37 +0000https://peopleofsaltchuk.com/?p=2478Michael Caskey decided to take control of his health during a wellness check last year. By Hilary Reeves In 2017, Michael Caskey made a decision to “go for the better.” Caskey is a Shop Helper at the Carlile Terminal in Fairbanks. Last year, he attended the company’s Wellness Open House and received a “wellness check.” ...

Michael Caskey decided to take control of his health during a wellness check last year.

By Hilary Reeves

In 2017, Michael Caskey made a decision to “go for the better.”

Caskey is a Shop Helper at the Carlile Terminal in Fairbanks. Last year, he attended the company’s Wellness Open House and received a “wellness check.”

“I ended up getting a phone call from the Beacon Clinic doctor telling me that I had Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, that I wasn’t producing enough insulin – just bad health in general. I took all that and made my decision to rework myself and go for the better.”

Caskey was born in Fort Riley, Kansas. His father was in the military, and the family moved to Alaska when Caskey was two years old. He’s lived in Fairbanks every since, graduating from Hutchison High School in 2012.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do until high school,” said Caskey, sharing that many of his high school classes centered on IT or welding. “I had wanted to do IT stuff, but after three years of it, I said ‘no way.’ During my senior year, I discovered I was interested in welding.”

After graduating, Caskey got a job as a cart pusher for a local chain grocery store. In 2015, he landed the job at Carlile.

“Most of the time, I’m in the washbay taking care of the equipment,” he said. “I like to work by myself, washing the trucks while listening to music. The most challenging part of my job so far was learning to reverse a trailer.”

Caskey starts his day by assessing the needs of the nearby truck or trailer shop before settling in to fuel equipment, locate parts, and – of course – wash.

“If I could change one thing about my education, I’d not have focused too much on IT, and instead done auto body in high school, or more welding,” he said. “I’m still up in the air about where I want to go in my career, but I might turn to driving. The Heavy Haul division is sweet. I have a nickname we joke about around the shop. They call me “Heavy Haul Mike.”

Caskey describes himself as an average person, who loves video games and his F150 pickup truck. Until last year, he hadn’t had to buckle down too hard. But he said his health is important to him.

“Before the wellness check, I was somewhere around 310 pounds and at my last checkup, I was 245,” he concluded. “My blood pressure and sugar are in the normal range, and I’m just about non-diabetic. The big changes I made were to stop drinking energy drinks and soda, chewing tobacco, I changed my eating habits and I started to exercise a bit when I got off work. I don’t really have a goal weight or anything. Having health insurance through the company really helped in getting the medicine I needed to. I got one of those CPAP machines to treat my sleep apnea. Now that I’m sleeping more, I have more energy. I still have a bit to go, but what I’m doing is working for me. Hopefully hearing my story will help someone else.”

]]>Project manager welcomes Alaska Native students to Foss headquartershttps://peopleofsaltchuk.com/project-manager-welcomes-alaska-native-students-to-foss-headquarters/
Sat, 17 Nov 2018 00:01:03 +0000https://peopleofsaltchuk.com/?p=2450Amber Thomas grew up in Barrow, Alaska: ‘I saw a reflection of my younger self.’ By Hilary Reeves It wasn’t until Foss Maritime Project Manager Amber Thomas left home for college that she truly understood how different her home was from any other place in the country. “I’d often be asked about the 24 hours of ...

It wasn’t until Foss Maritime Project Manager Amber Thomas left home for college that she truly understood how different her home was from any other place in the country.

“I’d often be asked about the 24 hours of daylight and the 24 hours of darkness and how I’d handled it,” she said. “I was confused by the question because it felt like asking someone ‘How did you handle drinking water for the first time?’ It’s not something you ever think about, it’s normal life. The hardest part of living in the Lower 48 for college was when the sun woke me up every morning at 6 a.m. I was used to all or nothing. I used to black out my shades with cardboard and tinfoil, the original black-out shades.”

Thomas was born and raised in Utqiagvik (formerly known as Barrow), Alaska, a town of just 4,500 residents. Utqiagvik sits on the northernmost point of the United States, beyond the Arctic Circle and just 1,300 miles south of the North Pole.

Amber Thomas worked as a Wildlife Technician for the North Slope Borough during the spring of 2011. She was counting a whale and marking its location with a theodolite while a polar bear napped behind. Photo by Vicki Beaver.

Thomas was 14 when she landed her first job at a local grocery store. She worked throughout high school and college in several fields, but her favorite was a stint as a Wildlife Technician. “My job was to count bowhead whales transiting through the water highway between shore-fast ice and the free-floating pack ice,” she explained. “My daily task was to get dressed to stand in below-zero degrees Fahrenheit for four-hour shifts for sometimes 12 hours a day. Each day I had to grab a 12-gauge shotgun with slugs, a radio, and start a snow machine in the cold. I rode by snow machine over the shore fast (ocean ice) to a campsite and then hiked another 15 minutes to our perch located next to the open water, all while protecting myself from the elements, wind direction shifts, and polar bears. I remember telling my cousin how nervous I was to be doing it on my own, and she told me, ‘Trust your instincts.’ I was riding on the snow machine and briefly remember looking down and thinking, ‘Was that a polar bear track?’ Shortly after pulling into the campsite, I saw a polar bear meandering around the tent checking things out. That moment solidified that no matter where I am in the world, I can always trust my instincts.”

Oil and the North Slope

Thomas said she came of age at a time when Utqiagvik was undergoing great change. With the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay, the 1960s and ’70s brought great outside interest in the North Slope region. By the ’80s, the North Slope was seeing the benefits of that discovery through the entities that had been established to ensure the local people benefitted from local resources.

In the early 1970s, the North Slope Borough was established; it’s larger than the state of Utah and the largest county-level government in the nation. The Borough also encompassed the rich oil and gas fields of Prudhoe Bay. Utqiagvik serves as the seat of government for the Borough. Also in the early 1970s, regional and village Alaska Native Corporations (ANC) were created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the largest aboriginal land claims settlement of its time. ANCs are geographic-specific corporations owned by their shareholders with a mission mandated by Congress “to promote the health, education, or welfare” of the shareholders, and on the North Slope, it allowed for the Inupiat people to retain ownership and rights to lands selected and the resources within.

“The quality of life on the North Slope that I experienced was drastically different from my mother’s and grandparents’ generations,” she said. “We had running water, our school district could afford to hire teachers from outside to move to the Arctic, doctors rotated into our clinics, and we had television to connect us to the outside world and computers to teach us about the internet. The leadership of the regional and village corporations had the foresight to invest in education, and I was a product of that investment. Through scholarships and internships provided by the native corporations, I was able to further my education at the University of Idaho, where I earned a Bachelor of Science in American Studies and was able to prepare myself for future opportunities.”

A Field Trip to Foss

After college, Thomas worked at Arctic Slope Regional Corp. Energy Services, a subsidiary of for her regional ANC before joining Foss Maritime as a project manager.

“I was curious how businesses functioned outside of the world of native corporations and outside of the state of Alaska,” she said. “What I like most about my job is the constantly shifting projects that I have to think critically about, solving a multitude of problems. We could be bringing a drill rig to the Arctic, bringing a decommissioned vessel through the Suez Canal, or bringing utility vehicles to Puerto Rico to turn the lights on. Each day I take a mental step into each of my projects and evaluate where I’m at and where I want to be, and figure out how best to get the desired end result with the resources that are available to me.”

Last month, Thomas and her colleagues at Foss headquarters in Seattle hosted students from Alaska’s Coastal Villages Region Fund’s “Ciuneq” Education Pathways Program. Ciuneq is a Yupik word meaning a path or way forward. The program allows high-achieving students in Western Alaska an opportunity to explore educational pathways and careers.

“Though these kids weren’t from Utqiagvik, I saw a reflection of my younger self: Alaska Native students from small, remote communities stepping into an unknown outside world,” Thomas explained. “Coastal Villages Region Fund wanted the Ciuneq students to hear about maritime opportunities. As someone who grew up in a remote part of Alaska, I know what it can be like to travel outside for the first time and to interact with people who you haven’t known your whole life. So instead of me providing a PowerPoint about the various careers in the maritime industry, I thought it would be better to make it more interactive and to display the best attributes about Foss: our people!”

After a tour of the shipyard, Thomas and her colleagues in the office set up an area that featured employees in seven distinct maritime positions and had the students rotate through.

“We created a casual atmosphere with music and interactive tangible items for the students to touch and ask questions,” she said. “My key takeaway was that this experience was just as good for our employees as it was for the students.”

Her advice for young people: remember that no one gets anywhere alone.

“Latch onto those people who are cheering for you,” she said. “Find people who are succeeding in life and living the life you want to live. Be curious about how they got to where they are and ask them what they wished they had done differently at your age.”

Thomas hopes to someday go back to school to earn her MBA in Finance. She said when she looks back, she wishes she’d been braver sooner.

“I wish I hadn’t spent so much time afraid of the world outside of where I grew up,” she said. “There’s a whole world out there with wonderful experiences: food, places, companies, and people. You just have to be open to it. And I’m hoping this opportunity for the students can provide that opportunity to be braver sooner.”

]]>NAMS ramp lead clears path to successhttps://peopleofsaltchuk.com/nams-ramp-lead-clears-path-to-success/
Tue, 30 Oct 2018 03:02:47 +0000https://peopleofsaltchuk.com/?p=2408Kansas-native Dan Parry moved to Alaska 38 years ago By Hilary Reeves The first time Dan Parry set foot in Alaska – on a vacation with his parents in the early ‘70s – he knew he was destined to live there someday. He was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, the son of a Beech ...

Kansas-native Dan Parry moved to Alaska 38 years ago

By Hilary Reeves

The first time Dan Parry set foot in Alaska – on a vacation with his parents in the early ‘70s – he knew he was destined to live there someday. He was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, the son of a Beech Aircraft electrical engineer and a stay-at-home mom who provided daycare for working mothers.

“My childhood was enjoyable,” said Parry. “I raised all kinds of animals, my favorite being a crow we named SPOOK – we taught him to talk. I spent many a weekend hunting rabbits and squirrels on my uncle’s farm in Manhattan, Kansas. I always believed I would work with animals when I became an adult.”

Parry said his parents instilled in him a good work ethic from an early age, encouraging him to mow lawns in the neighborhood and allowing him to work as a bagger and stocker at the local grocery and dime store a block from his house.

“I also delivered newspapers around my neighborhood on my bicycle every day,” he said.

Parry has worked for NAMS for 11 years.

Moving to Alaska

Parry’s family was part of a strong faith community, and when the time came for him to choose a college, he chose a Bible college in the Midwest. It was there where he met his wife, Birdie. They married in 1980.

“We moved to Alaska six months later,” he said.

He started working for Era Aviation, but after two years he moved to Alaska Airlines, where he worked for the next 21 years until he retired. He and Birdie finished raising three daughters, and then Parry decided to go back to work – this time on the Slope.

“I was hired by Carlile the same day I applied for a position working the ramp in Deadhorse.”

According to Parry, when Saltchuk became the parent of both Carlile and Northern Air Maintenance Services (NAMS), he was asked to join the NAMS Shared Services Aviation ramp operations as lead of the crew. Shared Services Aviation is a joint operation of ConocoPhilllips and BP that provides transportation to the North Slope for Oilfield workers. More than 20,000 employees and contract workers are flown aboard two Boeing 737-700 aircraft between Anchorage, Fairbanks and the North Slope each week. NAMS performs maintenance to the aircraft, flight check-in and baggage handling, and conducts passenger security screening, ramp and ticket counter operations.

“I’ve worked this position for 11 years and counting,” said Parry. “I work with a crew of four in weather that is sometimes minus 46 degrees, with a minus 84-degree wind-chill factor. We ground-handle the Shared Service flights that come into Deadhorse, unloading and loading passengers’ bags and freight, and turning the aircraft safely and on time. Our greatest challenge is the weather. We keep the building entries free of snow for the passengers, prepare ramps for arriving passengers, and create a 200-foot trail for passengers from the Casa and Otter aircraft to walk on safely to the terminal.”

Dan and Birdie Parry with King Salmon.

Best friends and co-workers

Parry currently works as the Lead Ramp Service Agent. He said the best part about life on the Slope is getting to work with Birdie, who is a passenger screener for NAMS.

“Our shifts coincide with each other’s,” he said. “We’ve worked on the North Slope together now for almost 11 years. She and I have been married for 39 years.”

Parry said he’s proud to have made so many good friends over the years, friends who hear his name and have good memories of working, hunting and fishing together.

“I’m also proud of our three daughters who are now responsible adults working in their communities and raising our grandchildren to be strong responsible adults,” he said. “I’m thankful for the airline work in Alaska that has afforded me the ability to raise our children and provide for my family a healthy and satisfying life.”

“I’ve guided my three daughters on their first bear hunts,” he said. “I have a love of being around black bears and watching them and photographing them. Our family has fished with the brown bears in Illiamna, and black bears on the Russian River. One time, our fishing poles were bumped off a flight to go fishing. We decided to cut some alder branches off a tree, tied our line and Coho flies to the branches, and set out to catch our 22-fish limit for the day of red salmon.”

The big picture

Parry’s all-time favorite NAMS memory is being invited to ride jump seat back to Anchorage with the pilots.

“It was very exciting getting to view things from the pilot’s perspective,” he said. “There have been a lot of changes to the airline industry since I began in 1985. With the fluctuation in the oil industry, we expect many more changes to come to NAMS, especially on the North Slope.”

Parry’s Code of Ethics:

“Be respectful even when it is hard. Be kind and give great customer service, as it always pays high dividends. Pay attention to the details without losing sight of the big picture.”